{"id":224700,"date":"2025-10-30T14:52:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T00:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=224700"},"modified":"2025-10-30T14:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T00:53:09","slug":"jabsom-freeman-foundation-scholars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/30\/jabsom-freeman-foundation-scholars\/","title":{"rendered":"Freeman Foundation scholars strengthen Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s physician workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"freeman
Megan Blair, Russell Dean Piʻimauna<\/span> Kackley and Shelley Wong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With support from the Freeman Foundation, three University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa future physicians are helping strengthen Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s healthcare workforce amid the state\u2019s ongoing physician shortage. This year\u2019s Freeman Foundation scholars—Megan Blair, Russell Dean Piʻimauna<\/span> Kackley and Shelley Wong—each received a $40,000 award to help repay student loans in exchange for committing to practice medicine in the islands.<\/p>\n

Now in its sixth year, the Freeman Foundation award supports graduates of the John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> (JABSOM<\/abbr>) who pledge to remain in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> for at least two years after completing residency or fellowship training.<\/p>\n

Opportunity, community<\/h2>\n

Megan Blair, from Wailuku, Maui, is completing her final year of pediatric residency at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. She plans to return home to serve as a general pediatrician. She is excited for the opportunity to help the keiki of Maui grow up to be healthy and strong in body, mind and heart.<\/p>\n

Russell Dean Piʻimauna<\/span> Kackley, a fellow in addiction psychiatry, grew up in Hilo and earned his medical degree from JABSOM<\/abbr>. He is passionate about reducing health disparities in vulnerable populations, with a focus on Native Hawaiians. Kackley is honored to serve as a physician in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and looks forward to the work that lies ahead.<\/p>\n

Shelley Wong, a child and adolescent psychiatry fellow from Honolulu, also graduated from JABSOM<\/abbr> after earning her undergraduate degree at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. She is thankful to the people and communities of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> who shaped her journey, supported her growth, and trusted her to care for their loved ones. She looks forward to caring for children and families across the islands and hopes to inspire future physicians along the way.<\/p>\n

Established in 1993 through the bequest of businessman and philanthropist Mansfield Freeman, the Freeman Foundation\u2019s partnership with JABSOM<\/abbr> continues to make a lasting impact by supporting local doctors who choose to stay and serve their communities.<\/p>\n

Read more at JABSOM<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three UH<\/abbr> medical trainees received Freeman Foundation awards to help reduce student debt while helping Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>‘s physician workforce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":224705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[679,31,660,9],"class_list":["post-224700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-john-a-burns-school-of-medicine","tag-student-recognition","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-jabsom-freeman-foundation-2025.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224700"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224712,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224700\/revisions\/224712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}